Country Music Association Works to Attract Brands, Change Perceptions of Its Fans
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It’s a rainy Wednesday morning in November. Nearly 40 marketing executives from companies including Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo and Colgate-Palmolive are sitting in a conference room at the Country Music Hall of Fame sharing more about themselves than they’d probably planned. Damon Whiteside, senior VP-marketing and partnerships at the Country Music Association, has asked them to name their favorite country artists. Some, like Steve Doan, brand manager for Jose Cuervo at Proximo Spirits, have trouble naming even one.
And that’s exactly why the CMA has assembled them in Nashville. According to CMA research, the country fan base over the age of 12 has soared 31% during the last decade from 80.9 million to 106.6 million. Of those fans, 34% are in the prime advertiser demographic of 18-to-34- years old. More than half work full-time and are married, college-educated homeowners. Country music fans’ average yearly household income is around $76,200, slightly higher than the general population.
Yet, there’s a disconnect between an ad industry that tends to live on the coasts and regards America’s heartland as flyover country. That’s why the CMA is holding this marketing summit, its ninth such program, just hours before one of its signature events, the Country Music Association Awards.
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